"Frustrated by a lack of progress, a (forum) poster talks about quitting powerlifting. Board regulars council him not to quit as well as offer some tough love."

Quote:

Sorry to hear about your frustrations Zach, but it comes with the territory here and we all go through shit - whether it be plateaus, injuries, or what have you... Shit happens, you just have to roll with it and keep working hard and training smart.

Quote:

You are a f*cking whiner. Let me guess------you probably change up your training every month because the new latest and greatest didn't work for you? Try sticking with something for a year and do a real evaluation.

Sorry dude, but if you even came close to maintaining your strength with a 50 pound weight drop, you are doing good. I struggled for almost 3 years to hit a lousy bench pr. During that time I had pretty much every setback in the world. Injuries, heart problems, you name it. I finally hit a 6 pound PR, and guess what happened the next week????? I was diagnosed with diabetes. Had to lose 60 pounds, not because I wanted to, but because I HAD to. Bench dropped over 100 pounds with the weight loss.

Rather than bitch and moan about it, I got back on the f*cking horse and kept going. Took a long time to build the strength back, and hit more pr's again.

Guess how I did it? Same training I have always done. Things went slower, my leverages changed dramatically due to the weight loss, more injuries held me back...etc. You just suck it up and keep going.

Now I'm fighting new problems-------but I'll be back once again.

Look at it this way----I hit my first 600 bench in August of 2002. In September of 2003 I hit 810. March 2004, I hit 859. Took me until May of 2007 to get 905. I had huge success, then pretty much a 3 year slump. Yeah, its frustrating----but you suck it up and keep going.

Now grow a pair and go train.

Quote:

C'mon don't be a wuss, Zach. If the horse throws you, the saying goes, you get back on and ride.

A lot of guys have responded already about their experiences because this is COMMON. If you love power sports you will press on.

You know how long it took me to get from a 300lb raw bench to a 400+?? 20 YEARS!! That's right, TWO DECADES!! I am not built for powerlifting. My leverages are all wrong, I have very small wrists and long arms. I've had a HOST of injuries going back to jr. high that STILL bother me, yet I keep on keepin on, even over 40 yrs old...

Do you sometimes feel like, "screw it, I'm quitting this garbage?" Yeah, but the feeling only lasts a short time, then you find yourself back in the gym, trying to figure out how to make progress again and hit your next PR.

You are young and have a lot of good years ahead of you if you want to stay in this game. But you gotta decide if lifting is for you or not. If it is, you're going to have your ups and downs, and you need to learn to get through the down times and use them to make you better.

Quote:

If you dont want it anymore quit.

Dont do anything by half!

Quote:

Something has to change because what you're doing, by your own admission, isn't working. Like a few posters before I think it's probably mental. You are gonna have to find some way to keep some intensity. Most eveyone on here calling you a pussy has overcome some adversity, like an injury or other health issues. You don't have any major problems to overcome (beside this plateau) and sometimes that's the best motivation to succeed is when someone says you can't do it or it will be very very difficult to do it again. Shit bro, if I were you, I'd think of all those dudes calling you a big vagina every time you do a rep. You don't got shit to prove but to yourself but use it for the anger anyway. Focus it to start putting up some weight. Of course it's gonna take time, and you don't have to use my example, but find something to keep some motivation and intensity.

Quote:

I've been lifting since 1964, trained around and rehabed injuries, bombed in meets, hell I even did bodybuilding for years. I've taken time off over the years, I'll be 65 in December and I haven't quit. In powerlifting you are not entitled to gains, you get to work for them. Maybe you don't need to train more, just smarter! I've watched Latt struggle with some heavy issues for the past few years and he's still hanging in there. If you want to quit then quit, it's your choice the only person you let down is yourself. I'm lifting more in my sixties than I did in my fourties and I'm still improving. Good luck!

Quote:

Zach, I had your problems. I actually still have some of it. Let me tell you straight up. That shit doesn't fly when you have GOOD partners. "Friendly" partners will feel sorry for you, they'll tell you it's awful and wish you could fix it. Latt's not being a dick, he's being a good "partner".

I have a tendency to doubt and quit on myself more often than I should and I used to call it "knowing my limits". I had no f*cking clue what my limits are. Latt would push me and quite a few times we've gotten in major fights over what I felt was Latt being a dick. To save the friendship, he backed off. Alot. So then I started training with Matt Wilson, Brad Vargason, and Danny Blankenship. Guess what? Those guys were COMPLETE dicks as well. Or so I thought. What I considered being a dick was actually a high level of lifting where these guys will literally KILL each other every workout rather than lose. It teaches you to become mentally tough and you learn your limits are nowhere near where you thought they'd be. It go so bad I was going to be kicked out of the group because I just didn't push. I've learned that whining and crying get you nowhere. You fix what's wrong no matter what it takes or what you have to do. Something will work. Louie Simmons is 60 and STILL improving. You stall because something is wrong not because "you can't make progress". That shit is for the BB.com pussies. So a few weeks ago I'm doing another bench workout at Latts and I work up to 750. I hit a very easy single and called it a night. After learning all this I realized later that night I had pussied out and Latt had let me. Not because he wanted to but because I had always fought him. I found myself wishing he had pushed me to 800 that night. It's easy to say guys are being assholes when you see posts like that. But they're not. I wanted to post the exact same thing but I couldn't because I saw in you what I saw in myself. It's pathetic and sad and you'll back on this one day and be embarrassed.

Pick a routine and stick to it. If you need help I can give you a hand, you can use all the resources on the board, anything. Let us help. But don't feel sorry for yourself and don't claim you can't make progress. You've hit a wall but even the Berlin Wall fell. Man up, get something together, and forge on.